A bit about politics, quite a bit about social policy, a lot about housing

The second part of my epic tale of the voyage of the RMS Torytanic. The story so far: A shortage of berths has prompted Captain Cameron to promise nothing less than an ‘accommodation revolution’ on the back of the ‘affordable ticket’ scheme dreamed up by his assistant purser, Mr Shipps. It will be iceberg season by the time the Torytanic completes its maiden voyage but fortunately for them she is designed to be unsinkable.

Ship’s journal of Captain D Cameron, Esq, Sunday October 16: The crossing is proving much slower going than my chief engineer, Mr Osborne, promised when we set sail. There are murmurings of discontent from passengers all over the ship and I’m not sure how much longer I can get away with telling them that they are better off than they would be on RMS Labour under Captain Brown or his replacement Mr Miliband. Fortunately, the loud parties organised by our Greek and Italian passengers have given them something else to moan about.

So the people in Range Rovers in Barbours appear to have beaten the people in Range Rovers in pinstripe suits. But it remains to be seen how much difference the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) will make to new housing in general and new affordable housing in particular.

After the final version of the document was published on Tuesday, The Telegraph was quick out of the blocks to claim victory for the Barbours and its Hands Off Our Land campaign. It cited explicit protection for the green belt and encouragement for local authorities to use brownfield land first. The National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England both said the government had listened to their concerns (not surprising when documents released at the same time as the NPPF revealed that planning minister Greg Clark met them five times and had another seven meetings with other environmental organisations to discuss planning between July and September).

The story so far: Rummaging through a collection of books at a car boot sale, I came across this remarkable journal of a ship’s captain telling the story of a perilous voyage on the high seas. Originally published in five chapters in 24Housing magazine, I’ll be running it in five blogs here over the next three weeks. The story begins one fine September day last year…

Ship’s journal of Captain D Cameron, Esq, Sunday September 18: A spell off the bridge leaving my vessel in the less than capable hands of my first lieutenant, Mr Clegg, and officers from our sister ship RMS Libdem. Thanks to the ingenuity of my chief engineer, Mr Osborne, I will be able to listen in through the ship’s communication system to check if anything is seriously awry.

Why is it that so few chancellors ever consider the effect of their decisions on taxation on housing?

The obvious answers are political ones: housing is near the bottom of the list of priorities; no chancellor can afford to alienate the homeowning majority; and any changes to the tax system inevitably create losers as well as winners.

As George Osborne puts the finishing touches to the Budget, speculation continues about several measures that could have a huge impact: a long-overdue clampdown on stamp duty avoidance (Osborne has already committed to this – see my blog for Inside Housing here); extra council tax bands (a distinct possibility); and a mansion tax (advocated by the Lib Dems but supposedly ruled out for now by David Cameron). Yet all of the ideas are about raising revenue for tax cuts elsewhere. There is no suggestion of the more general reform of property taxation that is so badly needed.